Applied Materials Eyes Capacity Expansion as Profit, Revenue Grow — Update

By Elias Schisgall

Applied Materials is looking to ramp up its manufacturing capacity to meet continued semiconductor solutions demand as the company's profit and revenue grow.

The semiconductor-equipment maker is responding to long-term demand signals by adding new manufacturing and customer support teams, Chief Financial Officer Brice Hill told analysts on a Thursday call. The company hopes to build capacity to double quarterly semiconductor system output from its current level by 2028, he said.

The company is also planning its next manufacturing capacity expansion, Hill said, "ensuring we have the option to support further increases in demand by 2030."

Hill added that the company has higher prices for both new and existing products, supporting margin expansion.

The company stands to benefit from continued demand for DRAM memory technology, foundry-logic, and advanced packaging, Chief Executive Officer Gary Dickerson told analysts.

"These are areas where Applied has strong leadership positions and an innovative pipeline of next generation solutions, supporting strong revenue and margin growth in 2027 and beyond," he said.

Applied Materials on Thursday reported third-quarter net income of $2.54 billion, or $3.17 a share, compared with a profit of $1.78 billion, or $2.22 a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted earnings were $3.50 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $3.40 a share.

Revenue rose to $9.12 billion, up from $7.3 billion a year earlier and beating analysts' estimates of $8.99 billion.

In the company's semiconductor systems segment, revenue grew to $7.04 billion from $5.56 billion a year prior. Revenue from the applied global services segment rose to $1.78 billion from $1.46 billion.

"As the rapid global adoption of AI drives unprecedented demand for our materials engineering solutions, we are further raising our Semiconductor Systems revenue expectations for calendar 2026 and are confident we will grow faster than the market this year," Dickerson said in a press release announcing the results.

The company in May had projected that the semiconductor segment would grow more than 30%, compared to a previous outlook of more than 20%. In Thursday's call, Dickerson and Hill declined to give specific guidance for the segment beyond the current quarter, but said they expect the segment's growth to be stronger than they did in May.

For the current fiscal fourth quarter, the company said it expects adjusted earnings of between $3.82 and $4.22 a share, on revenue between $9.75 billion and $10.75 billion. Analysts were expecting fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.71 a share on $9.55 billion of revenue.

The revenue projection includes around $7.9 billion in semiconductor systems revenue and $1.84 billion in applied global services revenue.

Shares of Applied Materials slid 5% to $507.97 in after-hours trading on Thursday. The stock closed down 2.5% at $534.54, having more than doubled in value this year.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 13, 2026 18:21 ET (22:21 GMT)